Friday, December 31, 2010

Best Wishes for the end of 2010 and the start of 2011

Well everyone
It certainly doesn't feel like it but another year is about to become history and live only in our memory. 

As a final thought for 2010, as you ponder all your new years resolutions for 2011 for you personally, let me remind you that it is equally important to think about and commit to business, marketing and of course social media objectives that you will build strategies around and ultimately be accountable for.

What ever they may be, please give them some thought.
Thanks for reading and all the best for 2011.

Until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Major Upgrade to Foursquare

The leading geolocation social media platform Foursquare has jsut announced that it will now be adding on two significant features to its already impressive site. Namely comments and pictures for its members using smart phones.

This ability  has now been activated for iPhone users and will be available to Google android system phones within a week, with Blackberry users getting the chance to to the same in the new year.

Foursquare is experiencing quick growth having recently also announced that it had  five million, further reinforcing its creditials as a must have social media platform.

Some would say that this was an inevitable expansion of its original functionality to now offer users the chance to better communicate where they were and what they were doing in a way that augments the message.

It may be early days for the geolocation sites such as foursquare, but the excitment, scope and engagement that they offer strongly suggests that they will only get bigger and better in 2011 and beyond.

And one final thing from me is I'd love to wish everyone all the best for Christmas and the New Year. I hope your festive season is a great one.

Unit next time, good marketing and good luck.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Creating a Dashbooard For Your Social Media

As the scope of social media continues to expand and the type of marketing platforms seem to have no limit, it becomes increasingly important to focus on our stated social media and overall marketing objectives to determine how well (or otherwise) our key performance indicators (KPI's) are being met over time.


To be able to answer this we need to do a couple of key things.


Firstly we need to be clear about what it is we want to be able to measure from its existing point moving forward and why these measures are the key ones for us. If we focus on the wrong measures, then even if they are properly assessed, the result will provide little useful data for the business.

Secondly and almost as almost as important is the way the metrics will be displayed. Too often, managers are inundated with and overwhelmed by copious amounts of raw data making it difficult to focus clearly on the key data points and trends.

For this reason it is wise to set up a simple, efficient and practical dashboard that will provide management with facts and figures designed to update and provide added insight into what has transpired.


There are I'm pleased to say various existing providers of Dashboard templates and resources available. Some are free and some will cost you some money.

iGoogle (www.google.com/ig) and MyYahoo (http://my.yahoo.com) both for example provide free tools for the respective Google and Yahoo home pages.

For Twitter, Hootsuite (www.hootsuite.com) provides a dashboard specifically for the brief Twitter messages.

Specifically for social media you have free dashboard services such as: Pageflakes (www.pageflakes.com/default.aspx) as well as paid versions from suppliers such as: UberVU (www.ubervu.com)


Regardless of whether you opt for the free service or pay a little more for the one of

the paid options, the point is simply that you need to be starting to get your structure set up so that all valuable information is routinely gathered, analysed, seen and understood by the business.



Until next time,
Good marketing and good luck.

Friday, December 3, 2010

A Cautionary Tale on Social Media Marketing

Hi again everyone.


This week I want to devote my blog post to a quick bit of feedback from a presentation I gave the other night at a W omen's Business Network meeting. I was asked to speak on the role of Emotional Intelligence in Business and the positive benefits that flow from having a team of people with high EI. It was a great night and I walked away with two strong memories from the night.
1. How tight the group was and how mutually supportive they were of each other. Great stuff, and
2. That in some discussions later people had the view that as one person put it:
"I've done the all the social media things and it didn't work. My sales are flat."
Hearing this I asked a couple of questions about exactly what she had done. Cutting a long story short, she hadn't done everything.  No Slide Share, no blog, no LinkedIn, No social book marking, etc, etc.....
Now to her credit she had done some things, but even there they were incomplete.

What I'm trying to get at here is that as we all know or should no, social media is not a simple check list of tactics that you set and forget.
It flows from broad strategy that we implement through appropriate tactical platforms and tolls and monitor closely and adjust and change over time.


If for what ever reason you think you have done it all, you wont have to add your sales are down. It will probably be a given.


 Keep studying, keep testing and measuring, keep fine tuning and the benefits will begin to flow over time.

Good marketing and good luck,
Regards,
Daniele.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Marketing Metrics: Should 'The Bottom Line' Be The Real Bottom Line

In recent times I seem to have had several discussions on metrics with different people.
Why do we need them, which are the ones most people use,  are some more appropriate based on the  different stages stages in the sales process, and so on. All good questions to be sure.

Interestingly in every case I have found that each of these individuals were most focus on the proverbial bottom line as a definitive metric  to measure the success or failure of their social media and electronic campaigns. No problem there you say. True but consider this.

Despite the fact that the lifeblood of any business is it's ability to earn, sustain and grow its profitability over time, at any given point this level of profit is a historical marker that granted is the ultimate metric for what has happened to this point.  However there is a more dynamic and predictive marker for future profitability i.e. satisfaction.

How satisfied are your clients, customers, patients, key accounts or members?

Quite conceivably your profits especially during the launch, re-branding or  restructuring phases may be modest and tracking below budget, however if your client base is genuinely satisfied and pleased with your work, there is a tremendous capacity to leverage this goodwill to drive future sales.

Despite its obvious importance to few businesses (and especially SME's  routinely benchmark, set goals for and measure the level of satisfaction within their most important resource. Their customers.
 Please don't also make that mistake. Until next time.
Good marketing and good luck.

Friday, November 19, 2010

How Connecting Your LinkedIn Contacts Builds Social Influence

As if we needed any further convincing that we needed to continue to be proactive in helping our contacts on LinkedIn connect with each other, right on cue today I read this great piece by Stephanie Sammons, published November 18, 2010 on the topic.  Have a read I think you'll agree how easy it is to do in the simple 3 step process.


Are you wondering how to leverage your presence on LinkedIn to build social influence?

Regularly updating your status, joining and participating in groups and answering questions is just the start.

There are also a number of ways to build deeper relationships with your connections on LinkedIn. I’m going to ask you to shift your thinking and consider the following:

Spend some time on LinkedIn connecting your contacts.

If you truly want to build social influence with your connections and become more valuable to them, dedicating time to strategically helping others can elevate your “social” status.

People want to be connected with a connector! Connectors are considered valuable resources because they’re genuinely interested and engaged in helping others succeed.

Working to connect your connections on LinkedIn not only helps you become a more influential person, you’ll also benefit from triggering the rule of reciprocity. Essentially, the rule of reciprocity states that when you do something that can benefit someone else, you’re making a psychological deposit with that person and he or she will feel obligated to repay the favor.

LinkedIn is the perfect environment in which to put the rule of reciprocity to use.

Why? Mostly, the network is transparent. LinkedIn members are sharing not only information about their professional background, skills, and experience, but they’re also sharing personal hobbies and interests. Never before have you been able to see all of these details about your professional network laid out right in front of you. The power of the LinkedIn network provides a compelling opportunity to grow your business.

A 3-Step Process for Connecting Your Connections on LinkedIn

#1: Analyze Your First-Degree Connections

Here’s a big-picture exercise that will get you thinking about who you know, what’s important to the people you know and who should know one other within your LinkedIn contacts.

Go to the Advanced People Search tool within LinkedIn. Under the “Relationship” section on the left, filter for your first-degree connections only (see image below).

This will bring up a list of all of your first-degree connections. Make sure to choose “Expanded View” to see more details about your connections within this search. A free LinkedIn account will show you up to 100 profile results per search.



The Advanced Search tool is located at the top right of your profile page.



Filter for first-degree connections.

Once you’ve pulled up the search results, scroll slowly through your entire list of first-degree connections, looking closely at faces and titles. Simply spending some time scanning through this list of connections can help trigger and uncover common ground among your connections that you may not have thought about. Take notes as you go through this process.

Next, identify your 10 best business relationships from this list and jot them down. Also add the 10 most influential people you’re connected with (there may be some overlap). Now it’s time to analyze your first-degree list of best relationships and top influencers.

Are there similar personality types? Do any of the career and business paths of your connections intersect or have complementary characteristics (i.e., could you connect an executive leadership coach with an executive, or an entrepreneur with a venture capitalist)? Whom can they benefit from knowing, being connected to, or working with on your list? Do any of these individuals live in the same geographic area? Do any of them have similar personal interests or belong to the same LinkedIn Groups or outside organizations?

Unfortunately there is no quick way to conduct this in-depth search other than to view the profiles manually and identify all the potential links. However, it will be well worth your time! Bringing together your best relationships with your top influencers is a very powerful exercise and you should get to know as much as you can about these individuals.

An example in action—connecting the dots:

John owns his own technology firm and Sam is a financial professional. They live in different states but they’re my first-degree connections. Through my relationships with these two individuals I’ve learned that they’re both Ironman triathletes who blog about their triathlon training and experiences, and they both strive for their personal best in business and in life. In my mind, these two must know each other and there could certainly be an opportunity for them to do business together as well.

Both John and Sam were extremely grateful for the introduction and were thrilled to meet a like-minded acquaintance with a passion for competing in triathlons. In this example, I was able to come up with this mutually beneficial connection by simply scanning through my first-degree connections and concentrating on what I know about each person, both personally and professionally. It’s all about connecting the dots!

#2: Filter Your First-Degree Search by Geography, Industry and/or Keywords

This time, start your Advanced LinkedIn search for first-degree connections, but run some filters. We’ll start by filtering your search results for geography and get more specific from there.

Using the Geography filter, choose the location where you have the most connections. Now study these profiles and go through the same questions listed in exercise #1. Who in this group of connections should be connected to one other and why? Can you see any professional common threads among those professionals who live in your area?

Now let’s narrow it down further and apply some filters for industry. First, view your connections who work in the same industries. Are there any opportunities for these individuals to benefit from networking with industry peers? Next, check the boxes for a handful of industries that could be complementary (i.e., financial and legal, marketing and design). Are there opportunities to connect any of these individuals where it could be mutually beneficial from a business standpoint?

Finally, let’s narrow it down even further by applying a keyword filter that describes a hobby or interest. The strongest ties are those that center on personal interests. The Keyword search box will be at the top left of your Advanced Search screen. If you need help coming up with a keyword for personal interests, look at your own interests that you’ve listed on your profile and use one of those words or phrases. What are you interested in and passionate about? What are your best connections interested in and passionate about?

An example in action—personal interests are powerful:

I’ve got about 130 professional LinkedIn connections in Dallas where I live. After I’ve run the first two filters (location and industry), I’ve got a list of 37 people whom I feel would benefit from being connected on a professional level. I then decided to run a keyword filter for the word “golf,” and that narrowed it down to 4 individuals! Now I’ve identified 4 of my connections who all live in my area, work in similar or complementary industries and enjoy golfing. I can decide from here whom I want to connect, and even connect the entire group of people through a golf outing!



Filter your searches to find common ground among your first-degree connections.

Go through this process numerous times with your first-degree connections, but reverse and play around with the order of your filters.

For example, start with a keyword based on one of your interests, and then filter for geography, followed by industry. You can certainly connect others across the country as well. There are really no rules here other than the more common ground you can identify among the connections you connect, the more relevant and meaningful that introduction will be for both parties.

#3: Send Both Connections a Private Message

Before you utilize the LinkedIn introduction tool, I strongly suggest you send a private message to each of the individuals you’re going to be connecting. First you’ll need to decide who’ll be the person you introduce and who’ll receive the introduction. Send a private message first to the person you’ll introduce. Use something like the following to let him or her know what to expect:

“Hi Sam, I know someone whom I think you would really enjoy meeting and we are also connected here on LinkedIn. His name is John ______ and he owns a technology company here in town. I realized that both of you are passionate about triathlons and even do some blogging on the subject. I wanted to introduce the two of you because you seem to have a lot in common, and you’re both here in Dallas! I will be sending an official LinkedIn introduction over to him shortly to introduce the two of you and you can take it from there. Let me know how it goes! Hope business is going well and let’s get together soon!”

Warm regards,

Stephanie Sammons

For the person who’ll be receiving the introduction, send him or her a private message as well as notification that your introduction will be coming soon. Always send these private messages first to make it clear to both parties what you’re trying to accomplish, otherwise it can be confusing.

Once you’ve sent the private messages, you can send over the official LinkedIn introduction. You can access the link entitled “Make an Introduction” from your connection’s profile.



LinkedIn makes it simple for you to introduce others.

The best way to ensure that these new connections you’re creating on LinkedIn will evolve into potential relationships is to do the work up front, and uncover all of the potential intersecting points or commonalities with your first-degree connections. The more people have in common—especially around personal interests—the more likely a new relationship will develop and thrive! You’ll be appreciated and respected for taking the time to connect the dots and piece these introductions together, and most importantly, you’ll build significant social influence!

It takes work to be a connector, and the benefits may not be immediately measurable. Long-term, however, you’ll reap the rewards in ways that you may not even be able to imagine today. Not only will you become a more valuable and influential person to your existing connections, you’ll open the door for new connections and introductions for yourself.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

LinkedIn Company Pages

Hello again everyone.
This week you may have heard that LinkedIn (the worlds premier business networking site),  launched their new Company Pages.  Surprisingly though it seems not to have received much attention.
So I thought I'd write this weeks blog post on it.

To access this new feature simply go to:  www.linkedin.com/companies  and sign in using your regular user id and password.  If your not already a member it's a great reson to join up.

This then leads you to a page where you input your company name and an email that will be linked to this page, but remember it needs to be an email that reflects the company name, so gmail accounts and yahoo mail type accounts will not be accepted. Remember this is LinkedIn which is all about serious business.

Once you do this you will be sent a confirmation email that you need to confirm.
From here you will then be able to reenter the page and fill in all your company information to build a profile about what you'd like people to know about your business.

You will also be able to add your company logo for branding purposes.

Try it out and let me know what you think.